Doing some research....

The drivers seat is heated 8 way not 10 way.

 

Did you show you any documentation on that? Was it in the Owner's Manual or Warranty Booklet for example?

Toyota sadly takes a similar stance. Excerpt from my 2010's Owner's Manual:



My experience with about 35 years with Honda: they all went through a little oil, about a pint would be needed to top up, about halfway through an oil interval. Never seemed to get any worse though, nothing like yours.

And our 2010 Prius doesn't seem to consume any, though the oil change interval I'm doing is pretty short.

 

True, but I believe dropping below a four will cost you the power driver's seat. Although many have said the seat comfort is improved on the 2016s vs the gen 3 (mine is a 2012 and I have a four, my seat is good for me)

 

The 2016 Prius has just won safest car of the year in UK's What Car magazine!

 

Any online link?

 

On the reliability front, I just saw that Consumer Reports has ranked the Prius as the most reliable car in its rankings. As for comfort, I agree that's you'll have to put your own keester in the seat and see for yourself. 10 Most Reliable Cars - Consumer Reports

 

Even Consumer Reports did not like the seats. From your link:

But the seats are rather chintzy ...

 

And tesla X is in the 10 least reliable.

 

Sorry, here's one. What Car? Car of the Year Awards 2017 | Best safety award

 

Thanks. Looking closer, it appears the feature that helped it win is either not available in the US or not on all models.

Our judges were particularly impressed with the Prius’s reverse AEB system, which comes as standard on most models. The system can detect objects — whether that be pedestrians or other cars — behind the Prius. This helps when reversing out of a tight parking space, and could stop accidents, because a quarter of all crashes in the UK involve reversing. When Euro NCAP tested the car, they awarded this AEB system maximum points.

From What Car? Car of the Year Awards 2017 | Toyota Prius

 

Here's a screenshot of CR talking about the seats:

IMHO, everything they said is true except for the padding on the door. They use enough padding.

Oh, I was looking at the Toyota website and it said 8 way including the lumbar.

 

Which is really a crazy way to measure it - but car makers have always been one to exaggerate claims.

e.g. If it goes forward/backward - I'd call that ONE adjustment - you can't possibly have one without the other.

5 would be my maximum measure.

 

In reality, some oil use isn't unreliability. The car HAS to use some oil. And your usage is minor compared with cars of decades ago. I remember where you'd change the oil every 1000 miles - on our old Austin, it was at the bottom of the dipstick by then.

Environmentally, using say 35 gallons of petrol + 1 quart of engine oil per 1000 miles - the amount of oil is infinitesimal compared with the petrol burned.

I'd suggest forget the oil issue - it's barely an issue overall. I suspect it's more the question of whether you want a new car. Yes, you can argue it on fuel savings (depends on the fuel price). I took into case a number of factors including greater safety, I wanted to go from a sedan to a hatchback - but mostly, because I normally change cars every 3-4 years once the warranty has run out.

 

i think if you buy a new prius and take good care of it, you'll have it a long time with few problems. (unless you're one of the unlucky few)
if you buy pre owned, you'll have to live with whatever damage the previous owner(s) caused.

 

That oil consumption does seem pretty bad. I've owned two cars with turbos (which use oil to lubricate and cool the turbo, so have much higher oil consumption than most cars) and they'd make 5000 miles before needing maybe half a quart added. Which would get me into the 6-7K range before doing an oil change. My '98 Accord didn't even use half that much oil. With a regular engine I'd be distressed if it burned more than half a quart in 6K miles.

I have the fabric seats, and I spend a lot of time in them. I don't have issues with them at all. That said, I'm not a large person and I prefer stiff cushions. So YMMV on that one. The fuel savings is amazing, although you are paying quite a bit for the tech that makes is possible. So the value of that depends quite a bit on how much driving you do. I will say this, the hybrid system functions nearly indistinguishably from a regular engine. There's nothing you have to do differently due to the hybrid system, as far as driving goes. Other than be more careful in parking lots, because pedestrians will not hear you coming. Like close enough to reach out and touch them, and they haven't noticed you because you're basically silent. The car will try to teach you to be a smoother driver, but even if you change nothing about your driving style you'll get far better fuel consumption than a regular car.